NMLS ID #211652 Arizona, Loan Consultant

Credit Score Needed to Buy a Home

The information contained in this entry is based upon Cobalt Mortgage’s company wide lending guidelines. From my personal experience, Cobalt guidelines are fairly normal for industry standards. The minimum required credit score to purchase a home is 620. When looking at a borrower’s credit score, lenders will pull your Experian, Transunion & Equifax credit scores. Lenders will use your middle score to determine qualification. FHA, VA & Conventional programs have similar FICO (credit score) requirements as well. You should always check with your lender of choice for their specific FICO (credit score) guidelines. There are many factors that affect your credit score.
• Payment History 35%
• New Credit 10%
• Length of Credit History 15%
• Type of credit used 10%
• Proportion of credit used vs. available credit 30%
Negative information will remain on your credit report for a number of years.
 Up to 10 years
o Accounts paid off (from last day of activity)
o A bankruptcy under chapter 7 or 11 or a non-discharged/dismissed chapter 13 (From date filed)
 Up to 7 years
o Accounts not yet paid ( from date account became past due)
o Late Payment History
o Collections Accounts ( from date first past due)
o Paid Tax Liens
o Judgments
 Indefinitely
o Unpaid tax liens
o Student Loan Defaults
All of these factors go into a risk determination formula created by the credit bureaus. This is how your score is determined. You should keep all of this in mind when looking into purchasing a home. Your credit score plays a key role in determining your interest rate.
For more information or questions, please feel free to contact me at Ingrid.quinn@cobaltmortgage.com.